Asian-Pacific News
Chinese General Lays Nuclear Card On U.S.'s Table
By Jason Dean
746 words
15 July 2005
The Asian Wall Street Journal
A2
English
(c) 2005 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. To see the edition in which this article appeared, click here http://awsj.com.hk/factiva-ns
BEIJING -- A Chinese general suggested that if the U.S. were to attack China in a conflict over Taiwan, Beijing could respond with nuclear weapons.
Maj. Gen. Zhu Chenghu, a dean at China's National Defense University, made the comments to a visiting group of Western journalists based in Hong Kong, including an editor from The Asian Wall Street Journal. The Chinese general said that the comments represented "my assessment, not the policy of the government." He also said that he was confident that "China and the U.S. will not go into war."
Gen. Zhu's role doesn't involve policy making, and analysts in the U.S. and China familiar with the general agreed that his stance doesn't likely represent the Chinese government's position.
"I think what he said is not mainstream thinking" in the Chinese government, said Chu Shulong, director of the Institute of Strategic Studies at Tsinghua University in Beijing, who says Gen. Zhu is a friend.
Still, Gen. Zhu's comments could fuel tension between Beijing and Washington, where distrust toward China is already simmering over trade and other issues. This week, for example, U.S. congressional hearings over Chinese oil company Cnooc Ltd.'s bid to buy Unocal Corp. have featured sharp criticism of Beijing's strategic intentions.
Statements like Gen. Zhu's "have sort of sown the seeds in Washington that the Chinese are not just a threat, they're a real danger," said John Tkacik, a China specialist at the conservative Heritage Foundation who is often critical of Beijing. Mr. Tkacik said Gen. Zhu's comments may have been intended as a kind of "psychological warfare" to underscore China's resolve, but that they would likely "backfire" in Washington.
Gen. Zhu's remarks aren't the first time a Chinese military official has brought up the specter of a nuclear response against the U.S. In 1995, Lt. Gen. Xiong Guangkai, then deputy chief of the general staff of China's People's Liberation Army, told then-U.S. Assistant Defense Secretary Charles Freeman that Beijing could attack Los Angeles with a nuclear missile if the U.S. were to attack China regarding Taiwan.
Gen. Zhu's comments were in response to a question on how China might prepare against U.S. interference in the case of a conflict over Taiwan.
Taiwan has enjoyed de facto independence since 1949, when the Kuomintang fled there after being defeated by the Communists in a civil war. But Beijing still claims Taiwan as part of China and has threatened to use force to prevent a permanent split.
The U.S. is legally obliged to aid Taiwan's self-defense, and could well be drawn into conflict in the event of a Chinese attack.
"If the Americans draw their missiles and position-guided ammunition into the target zone on China's territory, I think we will have to respond with nuclear weapons," Gen. Zhu said, adding that Chinese territory includes the country's warships and aircraft.
"If the Americans are determined to interfere . . . we will be determined to respond, and we Chinese will prepare ourselves for the destruction of all cities east of Xian," he said. Xian is an ancient city based in central China. "Of course the Americans will have to be prepared that hundreds of, or two hundreds of, [or] even more cities will be destroyed by the Chinese."
Although China has a no-first-strike nuclear policy, Gen. Zhu said he believed that policy applied to nonnuclear powers and could be changed. He said China has no intention to enter an arms race against the U.S., however, pointing to the former Soviet Union as an example of the futility of doing so.
Gen. Zhu described Taiwanese independence as "a cancer" that could spread, though he said, "I don't think we are facing any imminent threat."
On North Korea, Mr. Zhu blamed the U.S. for Pyongyang's efforts to develop nuclear weapons, saying it was doing so because it felt threatened by the U.S. and its nuclear capabilities.
Yesterday's meeting was part of a tour arranged by the Better Hong Kong Foundation, a private Hong Kong organization that has sought to improve people's understanding of China. Gen. Zhu was originally speaking to the journalists about China's national-defense policy.
Document AWSJ000020050714e17f0001p
Chinese General Lays Nuclear Card On U.S.'s Table
By Jason Dean
746 words
15 July 2005
The Asian Wall Street Journal
A2
English
(c) 2005 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. To see the edition in which this article appeared, click here http://awsj.com.hk/factiva-ns
BEIJING -- A Chinese general suggested that if the U.S. were to attack China in a conflict over Taiwan, Beijing could respond with nuclear weapons.
Maj. Gen. Zhu Chenghu, a dean at China's National Defense University, made the comments to a visiting group of Western journalists based in Hong Kong, including an editor from The Asian Wall Street Journal. The Chinese general said that the comments represented "my assessment, not the policy of the government." He also said that he was confident that "China and the U.S. will not go into war."
Gen. Zhu's role doesn't involve policy making, and analysts in the U.S. and China familiar with the general agreed that his stance doesn't likely represent the Chinese government's position.
"I think what he said is not mainstream thinking" in the Chinese government, said Chu Shulong, director of the Institute of Strategic Studies at Tsinghua University in Beijing, who says Gen. Zhu is a friend.
Still, Gen. Zhu's comments could fuel tension between Beijing and Washington, where distrust toward China is already simmering over trade and other issues. This week, for example, U.S. congressional hearings over Chinese oil company Cnooc Ltd.'s bid to buy Unocal Corp. have featured sharp criticism of Beijing's strategic intentions.
Statements like Gen. Zhu's "have sort of sown the seeds in Washington that the Chinese are not just a threat, they're a real danger," said John Tkacik, a China specialist at the conservative Heritage Foundation who is often critical of Beijing. Mr. Tkacik said Gen. Zhu's comments may have been intended as a kind of "psychological warfare" to underscore China's resolve, but that they would likely "backfire" in Washington.
Gen. Zhu's remarks aren't the first time a Chinese military official has brought up the specter of a nuclear response against the U.S. In 1995, Lt. Gen. Xiong Guangkai, then deputy chief of the general staff of China's People's Liberation Army, told then-U.S. Assistant Defense Secretary Charles Freeman that Beijing could attack Los Angeles with a nuclear missile if the U.S. were to attack China regarding Taiwan.
Gen. Zhu's comments were in response to a question on how China might prepare against U.S. interference in the case of a conflict over Taiwan.
Taiwan has enjoyed de facto independence since 1949, when the Kuomintang fled there after being defeated by the Communists in a civil war. But Beijing still claims Taiwan as part of China and has threatened to use force to prevent a permanent split.
The U.S. is legally obliged to aid Taiwan's self-defense, and could well be drawn into conflict in the event of a Chinese attack.
"If the Americans draw their missiles and position-guided ammunition into the target zone on China's territory, I think we will have to respond with nuclear weapons," Gen. Zhu said, adding that Chinese territory includes the country's warships and aircraft.
"If the Americans are determined to interfere . . . we will be determined to respond, and we Chinese will prepare ourselves for the destruction of all cities east of Xian," he said. Xian is an ancient city based in central China. "Of course the Americans will have to be prepared that hundreds of, or two hundreds of, [or] even more cities will be destroyed by the Chinese."
Although China has a no-first-strike nuclear policy, Gen. Zhu said he believed that policy applied to nonnuclear powers and could be changed. He said China has no intention to enter an arms race against the U.S., however, pointing to the former Soviet Union as an example of the futility of doing so.
Gen. Zhu described Taiwanese independence as "a cancer" that could spread, though he said, "I don't think we are facing any imminent threat."
On North Korea, Mr. Zhu blamed the U.S. for Pyongyang's efforts to develop nuclear weapons, saying it was doing so because it felt threatened by the U.S. and its nuclear capabilities.
Yesterday's meeting was part of a tour arranged by the Better Hong Kong Foundation, a private Hong Kong organization that has sought to improve people's understanding of China. Gen. Zhu was originally speaking to the journalists about China's national-defense policy.
Document AWSJ000020050714e17f0001p
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